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Three years ago, on June 8, 2012, I lost my brother Alan Sawyer, an Emmy Award-winning multimedia producer and broadcasting policy analyst, to lung cancer.

On this past Saturday, June 4, 2016, I was in Banff, Alberta, for the first time since Alan passed. Alan was a regular at the Banff World Media Festival, and in the St. James Gate pub there, there’s a plaque put up by his friends in honour of him. I made the pilgrimage to see it; the hostess at the bar bought the drinks for my table after she found out why I was there.

The plaque says:

In loving memory of our friend

Alan Sawyer

Husband, producer, policy wonk.

In this hallowed spot, with a few pints under his belt, there was no problem in Canadian media that was too big to tackle.